In his final fight, Manny Pacquiao aiming for improbable KO win over Timothy Bradley

Undefeated WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley (L) of the U.S. hits Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines during their title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada April 12, 2014. Pacquiao won by unanimous decision.
Reuters/Steve Marcus

Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines wants a grand exit in the sport stating that he will be aiming for a knockout victory against Timothy Bradley later this year in the bout that would be the finale for his long boxing career.

“I’m trying to have a knockout in that fight. I’m not saying I'm predicting the fight, but I’m trying to do my best so that people enjoy my last fight,” Pacquiao told rappler.com.

In the same interview, Pacquiao also insisted that he is not worried about his opponent in April saying that he knows Bradley’s style and the American is the same fighter he faced twice before despite being handled by new trainer, Teddy Atlas.

The pairing of Atlas and Bradley produced a sensational 9th round knockout win over Brandon Rios, one of Pacquiao's past opponents.

Pacquiao lost to Bradley in 2012 when the American was awarded a controversial 12-round split decision victory but won in 2014 on a 12-round unanimous decision win.

Pacquiao’s mission to deliver a knockout win over Bradley is a tough task considering the Filipino has failed to KO any of his opponents the past six years. Pacquiao's last KO win came in 2009 against Miguel Cotto, whom Pacquiao beat via a 12th round technical knockout.

Since then, Pacquiao has won bouts via unanimous or split decision seven times and has lost three bouts, to Mayweather via decision, to Juan Manuel Marquez via a sixth round knockout and to Bradley.

Additionally, Pacquiao’s focus in the final fight in his career has been scrutinised as the Filipino, who is currently an elected congressman in his country, is running for a Senate seat in the Philippine elections to be held in May, about a month after his fight against Bradley.

Some experts believe that Pacquiao is just using the fight against Bradley as exposure for his senatorial campaign in the Philippines. However, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach stated in interviews that he trusts Pacquiao to work with the distractions and still perform well in training camp and fight night.